Kingdom of Redonda

Flag Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Redonda. ...	Image:Arms redonda.gif Seal
Motto: tba Musical Anthem: tba
Type of entity:	Micronation
Location:	Redonda
Area claimed:	tba km²
Membership:	< 100
Date of foundation:	1865
Leadership:	Various competing claimants
Purported organisational structure:	Absolute monarchy
Language:	English
Currency:	none

The Kingdom of Redonda was a briefly independent kingdom. In 1865, Matthew Dowdy Shiell, who resided on the nearby island of Montserrat, proclaimed himself King of Redonda. The island of Redonda - an uninhabited island in the Leeward Islands, West Indies of approximately 1 square mile - is now part of Antigua and Barbuda. Micronations – sometimes also referred to as cybernations, fantasy countries, model countries, and new country projects – are entities that resemble independent nations or states, but which are unrecognized by them, and for the most part exist only on paper, on the Internet, or in the minds of their creators. ... Redonda is an uninhabited island dependency of Antigua and Barbuda. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... Absolute monarchy is a monarchial form of government where the ruler has the power to rule his or her land or country and its citizens freely, with no laws or legally-organized direct opposition in force. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... Redonda is a Caribbean micronation founded in 1865. ... Redonda is an uninhabited island dependency of Antigua and Barbuda. ... The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles. ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ...

History (or Story) of the Kingdom

Matthew Dowdy Shiell, a banker from Montserrat bought the island when his first son, Matthew Phipps Shiell, was born. He requested the title of King from Victoria, Queen of England and she granted it to him as long as there was no revolt against colonial power. ^[1] Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the eminent Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June, 1837, and Empress of India from 1 January, 1877, until her death in 1901. ...

M.P. Shiell bestowed the title, and the rights of his work, to John Gawsworth, who seems to have sold the title several times due to permanent bankruptcy. Gawsworth bestowed the title, and the rights of his and Shiell's work, to Jon Wynne-Tyson. Tired of the problems of the kingdom, Wynne-Tyson, gave up his title in 1997 when he decided to name Javier Marías as his successor (and bearer of the rights of the work of both Shiell and Gawsworth) because of the portrait of Gawsworth he made in his novel Todas las almas (published in English as All Souls). All the controversy on the list of contested kings is due to Gawsworth's sales.

Javier Marías

The Spanish writer Javier Marías, one of the current claimants of Redonda, tells the story of his coronation on Negra espalda del tiempo (pubilshed in English as Dark Back of Time). Also he operates a pet publishing house under the name of Reino de Redonda ("Kingdom of Redonda"). He has also created a literary prize with the same name. The reward is several thousand euros and a Redondan duchy. Javier Marías, (born September 20, 1951), is a Spanish novelist, translator and columnist. ... The euro (plural euro--but note linguistic issues concerning the euro, symbol: €; banking code: EUR) is the official currency of the European Union and single currency for over 300 million Europeans in the following twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands...

Several Spanish and foreign artists and writers have been granted with Redondan titles, including Pedro Almodóvar (Duke of Trémula), Francis Ford Coppola (Duke of Megalópolis), Alice Munro (Duchess of Ontario), J. M. Coetzee (Duke of Deshonra), Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Duke of Corso) and Guillermo Cabrera Infante (Duke of Tigres).^[2] Pedro Almodóvar (born on September 25, 1951 in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain) is an Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker. ... Francis Ford Coppola at Cannes 2001 Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, screenwriter, vintner, magazine publisher, and hotelier, most renowned for directing the highly regarded Godfather trilogy and the Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now. ... Alice Munro (born Alice Ann Laidlaw on July 10, 1931) is a Canadian short story writer, widely considered one of the greatest short story writers in modern literature. ... John Maxwell Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee (pronounced kut-SAY-uh) (born 9 February 1940) is a South African/Australian author, having emigrated from South Africa in 2002, and having been granted Australian citizenship on 6 March 2006. ... Spanish stamp (2002) tribute to Captain Alatriste Arturo Pérez-Reverte (b. ... Guillermo Cabrera Infante (April 22, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, translator, and critic; in the 1950s he used the pseudonym G. Caín. ...

Kings

• Matthew Dowdy Shiell, 1865 - 1880
• Matthew Phipps Shiell¹, 1880 - 1947 (styled as King Felipe)
• John Gawsworth², 1947 - 1967 (styled as King Juan I)

1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... M. P. Shiel (July 21, 1865 – February 17, 1947) was a prolific British writer of genre fantasy fiction, remembered mostly for supernatural and science fiction, published as novels, short stories and as serials. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... John Gawsworth (June 29, 1912 - September 23, 1970), a pseudonym of Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong, was a British writer, poet and compiler of anthologies, both of poetry and of short stories. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

Contested kings

Scenario 1 (Literary)

• Jon Wynne-Tyson, 1967 - 1997 (styled as King Juan II)
• Javier Marías, 1997 - present (styled as King Xavier I)

1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Javier Marías, (born September 20, 1951), is a Spanish novelist, translator and columnist. ...

Scenario 2

• Arthur John Roberts, 1967 - 1989 (also styled as King Juan II)
• William Leonard Gates, 1989 - present (styled as King Leo) [followed Roberts]

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Scenario 3

• Robert Williamson, 1984/5 - present (styled as King Robert the Bald)

Bobby Williamson (born Glasgow, 1961-08-13) is a football manager, most recently of the Plymouth Argyle football team, from where he dismissed by the directors on 6 September 2005 after a poor start to the 2005/2006 football season. ...

Scenario 4

• Max Leggett, 1950 - present

Notes

1. Matthew Phipps Shiell changed his surname to Shiel.
2. John Gawsworth is the pseudonym of Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong.

References

• ↑  Óscar López, "Érase una vez un Reino". El Periódico de Catalunya, July 6, 2001. (Can be consulted, in Spanish, at Javier Marías's site.)
• ↑  Historia del Reino de Redonda, by Pablo Martín Cerone (in Spanish)

External links

• The Redonda Foundation, operated by king Leo.
• Kingdom of Redonda, operated by king Robert the Bald
• Javier Marías's site, with information about the Kingdom, publishing house and prize (in Spanish).